Turkey rebuffs Cypriot demands over crossing
NICOSIA (AFP) – Turkish Cypriots and Turkey yesterday rebuffed Greek-Cypriot demands that Turkish soldiers withdraw from the vicinity before a crossing point is opened in the center of Cyprus’s divided capital. Last week, the internationally recognized government in the Greek-Cypriot south of the island demolished a wall separating the two sectors of Nicosia. But it demanded Turkish troops pull out from the immediate area before allowing use of the crossing point in Ledra Street, a pedestrian shopping area in the heart of the capital. «I will never accept to bargain the demilitarization of the city. Why should I?» Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat told the Turkish-Cypriot BRT television channel. Talat, the leader of the Turkish Cypriots, said demilitarization was an issue to be handled as part of a comprehensive solution to the long-running division of the island. He stressed it was time for the two sides to focus on peace efforts. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Bilman also rejected the Greek-Cypriot condition, echoing Talat’s position. «We think no conditions should not be attached to opening this crossing, just as none were attached to opening other gates» between the island’s rival communities, Bilman told a news conference in Ankara. Talat and Turkey also criticized Greek-Cypriot plans to open a new crossing along the island’s UN-patrolled ceasefire line at Pyrgos-Limnitis, west of Nicosia, before the Ledra crossing issue is resolved. «There is no such thing on our agenda,» Talat said, describing the planned opening as a «unilateral move.» Turkey said the priority should be opening Ledra Street. «We agree with the (Turkish-Cypriot) authorities who said Ledra Street should be opened before evaluating whether there is a need for another opening,» Bilman said. Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974, when Turkey seized its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek-Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. A UN plan to reunite the island failed in 2004 when the Greek Cypriots voted against it in a referendum, despite the Turkish-Cypriot community’s overwhelming approval. If Ledra Street and Limnitis are opened, there would be seven crossing points opened since April 2003 when the Turkish Cypriots lifted entry curbs on Greek Cypriots allowing movement.
